me in my new Chevy Lumina

notice I am driving and taking the picture, I amaze myself! lol!
Yipee! A car with air and less than 100,000 miles! God is so good! -Becky

funny well visit

Joshua went for his 5 year well visit on Monday (last week.) He is 45 lbs and 45 1/2 inches, we thought it was pretty cool they were the same number. We checked Jay too, he is 62 lbs and 52 inches.
The doctor tried to give Joshua an eye test with a letter chart. I was confident as he knows his letters (or so I thought.) She said can you read this and pointed to a line. He could not read any of the letters. I was confused. Then I pointed to a letter and said what is this letter, he told me every letter. Apparently he was attempting to read the line as a word. LOL!
T O L Z R E that is not a word, so no he could not read the line! -Becky

Awesome pool party

We went to an awesome pool party on Saturday (we made it at the right day and time, yeah!) The boys swam, went in paddle boats, slide down a huge water slide, and Jason even jumped off the low and high diving board (but I could not get a picture of that.) We had a blast.

Joshua and Jason
Joshua in paddle boat
Jason in paddle boat

Tie Dye Kind of Day

Today I had daycare kids (three of them) plus my own kids, so we did some tie dyeing. I love to do this! Joshua loved it too and kept going in the house to find his white undershirts. Jason who said "I don't want to do that" did two shirts. It was a fun summer day. Now we are going to go in our pool.

my sweet boys
Jason & Josh with homemade tie dye shirts
mine is on the right
Josh's, Josh's, Jason's, Josh's

Awesome praises!

Praise the Lord I was able to pay all June bills. This is so exciting.


I also have another huge praise. I was given a very nice 1998 Chevy that has great miles and working air. This is a huge relief as now I am driving 40 min. to and from work two days a week and will be driving 30 min. to and from co-op two days a week come Sept. I will have to go over budget a bit more to register this car and get new title, but eventually I may sell my old car to pay myself back.
God is so good!!!


Also Duane is coming to visit Fri. July 4rd-Sun. July 6th. We are going to go to the beach Fri. and then go see fireworks Fri. night!!! We (me & my boys) have not been in the ocean yet, so this will be so much fun! It is so cool that I get to have this visit!!!


Another awesome praise is we got a quick set pool (the boys paid for it with there own money) and finally (with Scott's help) we got it set up and I got the chemicals and the pool is actually balanced. We have been in it a few times and it is alot of fun. How cool that we are blessed so much! God even wants us to have fun!















Also we all are healthy and have our house, I have means to make money, we have a good running car, we have all our needs met and so much more. We are going to Ohio four days in July, we are going camping three days in Aug. We already have the money for both these trips. How can a single mom making so little have all this? It is only GOD!!!

What are your praises this week? -Becky

God put it on my heart

When I was 17 and pregnant with Jason, I went to Helping Hand Pregnancy Center (now Solutions Pregnancy Center.) They were amazing. They offered me free parenting classes, mentoring, and free baby stuff. And ultimately introduced me to the Lord. In Oct. 1998 I accepted the Lord at Solutions. They continued to help me over the years, and I wanted to share there website as they are an amazing ministry. Check them out:
Solutions Pregnancy Center
They are almost all volunteer run and could always use volunteers as well as donations, they accept cash, paypal, used but good condition baby cloths and furniture, new baby stuff, diapers, formula, etc. All things a new mom would need. If nothing else add them to your prayers, they are really letting God lead them to do amazing things! -Becky

weight update and sin is lingering

Hi! I did not lose any additional weight this week, but I did not gain.
At least this is good!
Please pray as I being tempted greatly this week. The sin is lingering and I need to overcome. I know I can only do this with God, so I need to put Him first in all I do, every minute of every day. This is hard, as we all know.
Also I need balance as I am all out of whack. And I need joy. I need the joy of the Lord, not the stress of my life and circumstances. I want that joy, and I need to spend my daily time with Him to get it back, pray that I would wake up and go right to the Lord!!!
Thanks! -Becky

duh day

yesterday we drove an hour and a half (lots of traffic) to a birthday party to discover the party is next Sat. Then I lost my keys and was frantic trying to find them so I could go to work. I had to take my grandma's car. This morning I found them laying under the car, but completely visible. DUH! See I do mess up alot! lol! -Becky

Six Word Meme

Six word Meme

This meme originated over an idea that was prompted by the book written by Larry Smith & Rachel Fershleiser, Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure. It’s a compilation based on the story that Hemingway once bet ten dollars that he could sum up his life in six words. His words were, “For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.”



1. Write your own six word memoir.
2. Post it to your blog including a visual illustration if you would like.
3. Link to the person who tagged you in your post and to this original post if possible so we can track it as it travels across the blog sphere.
Storing up treasures in Heaven has tagged me
4. Tag 5 more blogs with links.
5. Don’t forget to leave a comment in the tagged blogs with an invitation to play.

My six word meme is:

I mess up way too much









I tag:
Kelly
Lauren
Kevin
Mom
Duane

not sure

Well, I am in a daze having just woken up, but I sure do love sleeping in. So many things are changing lately I think it has gotten me a bit down as well as excited. The boys are officially done with school. They are elated to have the summer off. Josh did cooperate at his preschool graduation. He also was thrilled to spend time with Uncle Kevin and his dad.
Yes, Josh's dad (my ex husband) is here in NJ. He has come once a year for the past 5 years, so this is only his 5th visit ever with Joshua, but they do talk on the phone about once a month. It is so strange how Joshua loves his dad, it is sweet, but also heartbreaking for me too, he deserves a dad everyday, so does Jason. I remember being a child and thinking the world of my dad too. Now I know the truth that he was full of broken promises, but my stepfather, Gary really was my dad, he was there everyday for us. He did fun stuff with us and cared about us everyday! That is love, not having to but caring anyway! I pray that I will find that for my boys, but not just for them, but for me too.

So having Jose (Josh's dad, and my ex husband) here is hard for me too. It makes me remember stuff that I don't think about too often. I remember the good times we had. Then I remember the day he left and then months later the day I realized he left (up until then I was waiting for him to come home.) Now I know that I am blessed he left, he was not the man I thought he was, but still grieving the dream lost (the fantasy) is still there sometimes. And I do not harbor any negativity towards him, actually I pray for him daily, so when he visits it is like old friends getting together. I know that many can not understand this, and honestly either do I, but this is my reality right now. No I do not want to get back with Jose or am I delusional that he wants to. I am very happy dating Duane. This is really not about the present or the future, this is about the past. And we all know our pasts don't just go away, we have to overcome then so we can grow and move on. I think just a little (or a lot) I still have some overcoming to do. Not just with Jose but with all my past dating relationships (all 3 I have had in my life, first boyfriend, big Jason, & Jose.)

Anyway, that has been my week. Today is Saturday and we are relaxing, then going to a 5 year old birthday swim party, then at 5:00 I am going to work. Have a great weekend yourself! -Becky

Not budgeted for in June

so far I have spent $358 not budgeted for in June. This is way better than last month, but I need to stop all unbudgeted spending. Actually I need to reduce my regular budget as well.
This is what I spent money not budgeted for on:
$14 photos snapfish
$44 sports bra (had to order online, because I could not find my size in store)
$85 Aug. camping trip deposit
$20 adoption donations
$14 Home Depot new cord for lawn mower, ran over old one
$83 get Wii repaired (Jason is paying me back)
$36 QVC (should have returned that last month impulse purchase)
$10 Pet store for lizard food (need to add this to regular budget)
$52 Pool store, pool skimmer, vacuum, chemicals

I rounded these figures to the nearest dollar, total $358. I will get $83 back from Jason and will put that back in my savings. That is where I took the $358 from my savings. Do any of these things above look like emergencies? Not to me either.
Oh well, as of right now all my June bills, except rent and phone/online, are paid. I will pay them with rest of money due to me for June (paycheck and child support.)
I also have a few more toys and such for sale hoping to repay my savings!

-Becky

Joshua graduated preschool

Joshua with his preschool teacher, Mr. Steinhart
Me, Mom, Scott, Jason, & Joshua (Jason is wearing Josh's hat)
Kevin with Jason & Joshua after Josh's preschool graduation

Jason, Kevin, & his Friend all tired











It was a nice graduation (I only shed a few tears.) Joshua was elated to have his Uncle Kevin, Dad, Grandpa, Grandma, and his brother to see him graduate. After graduation we all went to Friendly's which was really nice. I can not believe Joshua will be in Kindergarten next year. AHHH!!! -Becky

First Place Bible Study and progress with weight

Hi! I just got home from aerobics and my First Place Bible study at church. This program is great, it is about putting God first in every area of our lives, especially food and exercise. I have been doing this for about 16 weeks, this is actually the second book we are on and I am so glad. I still am not fully on board with all the commitments, but am doing better. But I am so grateful as I thought we would have to delay the study until Sept. for non attendance but two wonderful ladies, Janet & Barbara, are doing the study with me. They already have been a tremendous blessing to me. It is so nice to have a support group who have the same goals: to put God first in all we do (with daily prayer, Bible reading, & Bible study), lose weight, exercise, eat healthy, and drink 8 glasses of water a day.

Well, I am excited to announce that after seven months of exercise and four months of the First Place study I have lost a total of 7 lbs. It is not great, but it is better than gaining or staying the same. My goal is to lose another 40 lbs by my 30th birthday (which is Oct. 3rd, 2009.) That is 16 months away, or 2 1/2 lbs a month. That is doable. I am even dreaming that I can do about 10 lbs a month and be at goal by my 29th birthday, but that is not really doable (like increasing my exercise to 2 hours a day and reducing further calories which I will not do.) But still I am rejoicing over my 7 lbs lost. Pray that I reach my goal of losing another 40 lbs, before Oct. next year. Thanks! -Becky

too busy to blog?

Lately with my new office job Mon. 10:00-4:30 & Thur. 9:30-4:30, my daycare kids that I still am watching, plus finishing up the year with the Wed. evening children's church program, Jason and Josh end of the year school stuff, getting ready for vacation Bible school in July, keeping up with the yard and house (we have ants and termites-AHHHHH!!!!), plus my walk with the Lord and my general mommy responsibilities I have not been blogging too much! I miss it, so I wanted to say hi!

My new job is great. I love the 40 min drive to work driving over a few scenic bridges. I love being in the car with no screaming, whiny, yelling kid, this is so new to me. I do still feel sad leaving kids home, but Mondays they are with friends (way more fun than me) and Thur. they are with my mom (again way more fun then me.) Plus I still have Tues., Wed., & Fri. home with them, plus the weekends. I also am starting to get a hang of the work, and think I am doing ok there. The people are all really nice and although I am really busy, it is not the same as being with kids busy. It is a nice change for me. I also like getting a little dressed up to go to work, this is also a nice change for me.

Friday is my last day for full time daycare. This is sad as I have loved all the kids so. For the summer I will still be doing part time care Tues. 8:30-1:30 and Fridays 8:30-5:00. Come Sept. I will not be doing any daycare, but may swap some childcare with a friend as one day a week I will need someone to pick Joshua up from school.

For the past three years I have been the director of our church's Wed. evening children's program. I have loved it, but it has been a huge job. I have stepped down for next year (as I am going to be doing co-op and work & homeschooling,) and my prayers have been answered and a wonderful couple who are both teachers are going to run it next year! I am so glad as it is such a needed program. We need God everyday, but it is nice to go to church Wed. and Sunday.

School will be over in 5 days, Friday is the kids last day. I have to finish up with the teacher gifts. I bought tote bags that my kids are using fabric markers to decorate for there teachers. Jason has two teachers. Joshua has three. Wed. Joshua will have his preschool graduation. He does not want to go, so we will see if he cooperates. I will try to get some cute pictures.
Jason will be in 5th grade next year, Joshua will be in kindergarten. Jason will be home with me. Joshua will be at the public school (that he and Jason are in now.)

For vacation Bible school at my church I will be teaching the 2 and 3 year olds. I have another teacher who I am very excited about working with. We already have some fun decorations for the Luau theme. We are meeting Tues. to plan lessons and crafts.

I will update about ants and termites in house after I talk to professional.

My walk with the Lord has been suffering, pray I wake up and have my time with the Lord, and put Him first in all I do. I know that I can't get too busy for Him or my life suffers and it has, I am more stressed and yelling especially at my boys alot more lately. Pray for me to stop this!!!

Well, that is my update, oh an exciting thing is Duane is coming again on 4th of July. We are going to go to the beach Fri. with my boys to go swimming, and do fireworks at night! Sat. is VBS set up day and he is going to help us set up, Sat, later we are going to a barbecue at my mom's. Sunday will be church and he will go home. I am so excited for a visit with him. We talk on the phone almost daily, but a visit is so much nicer! Yipee!!!

Another great thing is that Monica's husband was very ill (not great) and taken to the hospital last week, he was diagnosed with GBS (I think) but they caught it early so he is doing really well (the great part!). But keep him in prayer as he still has weeks off from work to recover and such. He is only 33 and in great shape, which I think is why he is doing so well. PTL!

Have a great night or day (depending on when you are reading this.) -Becky

huh? phone & online services-trying to save money

I currently pay just under $60 a month for my home phone and verizon dsl internet. I am happy with both services, but in an effort to save money I just called to see the rates for service if I cancel my call waiting, and extras. Well, because I have a bundle it would be almost the same price (difference about .30 cents.) The only way I can save money is if I reduce from the higher internet to the slower speed, it will be about $13 less a month, since my internet is so important I am not sure it is worth it. Come Oct. my bill will be going up about $25 (after a year I loss the bundle rate and discounts.) At that point I am losing all extras features and may go down to slower internet or try a different internet all together.
My question to you what do you pay for phone, and what does it include (call waiting, long distance, etc.?)
And what do you pay for internet, and what type, dial up, dsl, high speed online, etc? Do you have both on one bill?
We do not have any tv services (no cable not even basic) so we can't cut that.
I did just cancel our Netflix (saving $9 a month) as we will be going to library for summer.
-Becky

Birthday parties and Backyard carnival

Two weeks ago I had family & friends over for a barbecue, the weather was great, we all had a good time, and we had cake for Josh's 5th birthday. I should have left well enough alone, but he also wanted a friend party, so we decided to do a carnival. We had it in the yard yesterday. I had such a time getting the boys to help me get ready on Friday. It was crazy! I was thinking, this is not worth it, no one is having fun (least of all me.) But Sat. was great and all went well. My kids were very well behaved and the guests seemed to enjoy themselves too. It was a bit hot, but the kids did not mind (just us parents did.)

My mom & Scott did alot as well, my mom even painted a monkey and lion for kids to stick there heads in for a photo (I will use these as thank you cards for each child.)

As the children came my friend Joanna took there photo in lion or monkey head. Then the kids used fabric markers on a canvas tote bag (I bought a case of 36 online for like $40 dollars with shipping, the rest of the totes my kids will decorate for teachers for end of the year gifts.)

Each bag had 12 tickets in it, 1 for face painting, 1 for sand art, 10 for games.
I was doing sand art table (filling glass baby food jars, sand I had but you can buy at craft store or just use food coloring to color regular sand.)
An older sister of one of the guests was doing face and hand painting.
Then we had made a few games. Penny toss on our twister game board. We had toss across (the game you have to toss bean bags and get three in a row.) Ring toss (easily made with a stick, for rings cut plastic container lids into rings-like sour cream containers, etc.) Our fishing game was a variation, I froze prizes in empty yogurt containers and kids had to melt ice (pop out of containers and put in water)this was a welcome game on hot day-small balls are great to freeze. We also had a treasure hunt game (plastic Easter eggs with prizes inside hidden in sand box.)

We did bags, games, face painting, and sand art from 11-12. At 12:00 we served all the kids koolaid, hot dogs, and popcorn. Then we had cupcakes with animal crackers stuck in them. Then after lunch my awesome friend, Ann, did a puppet show. The kids really enjoyed that.

All in all it was a great relaxing party (not the day before that was not relaxing for me-lol!)

I especially want to thank: Mom, Scott, Ann, Joanna, Peter, Taylor, & Jason. You guys were awesome helping with food, games, etc.

And the best part was that it was pretty inexpensive (of course prizes added up, each kid got 8-10 small prizes.) So it was worth it. Next time I will try and remember to relax, how come this is not so easy to do (for me anyway?) -Becky

Jason & Peter watching puppet show
Ann doing puppet show
Joanna
Josh doing penny toss
Josh doing sand art
Jason with his stand-ring toss
Mom & Scott
Scott doing fishing & treasure hunt

I survived a mini vacation and working outside the home with cloth

Warning: this post talks about girl stuff!!!(really)

I wanted to share that I survived a mini vacation and working outside the home while using cloth menstrual pads. Last weekend I went away with my mom and I had my period, so not wanting to give up on my commitment to cloth I brought only my cloth pads. It was fine. I just put dirty ones in bag and washed all when I got home, it was no big deal. And this week I started my new office job and used the cloth pads at work too. I brought a mini bag that has two sides (all zippered and all waterproof) and put clean pads in one size and dirty in the other. It worked great. Mon. my flow was very heavy but my homemade pads from this great lady (who makes her pads and cloth diapers from home and sells them online) held up great, no leaks, and I was so comfortable.

So it can be done, I thought maybe it would only work since I worked from home, but it is almost no different from using disposables out of the home, except I have to bring them home and wash them. No big deal!

On a side note it has been about 5 months since I have been using cloth and they are great on my skin, they are so comfortable and so easy to care for. I just soak in cold water until I wash that day (or next day) and hang to dry. They are so much nicer on my sensitive skin than any disposables ever were. And it has been so nice not to have to go to the store and buy disposables in 5 months. How freeing!

Sorry to freak anyone out, but I discovered cloth pads on Permission to Mother's blog
and honestly I had never heard of or thought of them, but I am so glad I did. -Becky

Me & Joanna
Mom & Joanna in cut out thing my mom painted for Joshua's 5th birthday party

Hi

Hello! I wanted to post. I am so excited that it is almost summer. I just explained our summer schedule to the kids. They are happy to have some home time and friend house time too (on Mondays.) Plus we bought a pool (a semi permanent one) and they can't wait to blow it up. My mom so kindly bought an air pump yesterday so we can blow it up.
Today I watched the sweetest boy from my church. He is autistic. I have been telling his mom to bring him over for a while so she could get a break, she finally took me up on it and I watched him once last week, and then today too. He is so cute. He does not talk too much but at one point he got in my lap and gave me a kiss and then I read him a book.It was so cool. I felt such joy from him. His mom is so sweet, she was so grateful, but I feel like I was blessed by watching him, he was so sweet. God is so good. I feel like at our church we have such a network of those to help and who have been there, so we can be a resource to each other. I am glad this family is at our church and that I can help them out.
Well, we are off to church now. -Becky

June Budget

Becky’s Budget June 2008

Income:
Jason $386
Joshua $170
Daycare $200
Daycare girl $435
Fri. daycare kids $ 88
Office Work $500

Total $1779

Expenses:
Tithe $180
Childcare $350 (Mon. & Thur. $50 each day)
Savings $
Offering $ 60 (compassion child $35 / Solutions $25)
Rent $500
Car Repairs $
Car insurance $ 80
Gas for car $120
Allowance $ 60
Gas & electric bill $170
Phone & online $ 70
Business supplies $
Food $115
Non groceries $ 20 (contact stuff)
Spending $ 50
Clothes $0
$1775

Sat. night job $120
Tithe -$12
Freedom account -$54
Spending -$54

Praise

PTL for:
my awesome family and church family
my awesome friends
I am dating a nice guy (Duane)
all my May bills are paid in full
had a great weekend bonding with mom, sister, & cousin (thanks MOM)
got a great new job
got most summer childcare lined up
got new stuff on my bonding weekend (especially sunglasses that I wanted for awhile)
we are all healthy
car is running great (who needs air conditioning?)
house is pretty clean
my new closets
my clean room (new closets are really helping with this)

LIFE IS SO GOOD!
Thank you God for all my blessings! I love you! Amen! -Becky

Work

Wow, I did not realize how exhausting working in an office could be. I came home yesterday wiped out. But I did manage to cook dinner, sit down and eat it with my kids, play a card game with them, finish planning Josh's Sat. friend party with mom and Scott, put kids to bed (all without yelling, go me), check emails and a few blogs, and make a few phone calls. Boys and I were both asleep by 10:00. So much for straightening up, I did do dishes before bed, and house was overall ok so no big deal. I wanted to talk to Duane on the phone but I could not stay up. I can't do it all (nor do I want to-lol.)
At work I just observed to see how everything works. The computer software is confusing and I know it will take me awhile to get, I hope sooner than later though. The drive to work took longer than I expected 40 min. total. That is a change for me, as I am used to rolling out of bed and being at work. It will be worse as it gets hotter as I have NO air in my car, but at least I have a car and a job. I will just drive to work with a tank top on and put my work shirt on when I get there.
The staff in the office is great, that I already knew since I worked as a teacher there last summer. They are all so friendly.
Hopefully I was helpful and will be an assest to the company. I did mess up my first task, and that was embarrassing, but I will get better. -Becky

I am home

Hi! I am home. I had a great weekend with my mom, sister, and cousin. I got three shirts for work, a pair of sunglasses, two new bras, two pairs underwear, a bathing suit, mini funnels for sand art for Josh's party, candy for the boys, a ring toss game for Joshua's party, and food. It was nice.
We did a game where we broke up into two teams and we shopped for a nice shirt and matching accessories for the other two team members, we had a $40 limit. My mom and I shopped for my sister and cousin, they shopped for us. It was fun. My mom and I had so much fun getting my sister a shirt, purse, belt, flip flops, and mood ring. We thought it all looked so cute, she did not like it. But we had fun anyway. My cousin seemed to like her shirt and she looked good in it too. They got me a nice blue shirt and a Coach clutch. It is nice. I like the clutch because now I have a place just for my phone and money without weighing down my pockets (I don't really like big purses.)
We stayed in a hotel with a pool and Saturday night we went to a comedy show. It was so relaxing. I am glad I got to spend time with my mom, sister, and cousin. (THANKS MOM!) Plus it was nice to have a break from the boys who had a blast fishing and flying kites with grandpa. They didn't even want to come home when I went to pick them up.

Today I start my new job, I have my clothes picked out and my day planned. I will update on my day later! -Becky